Organ



E. S. VOTEY Sept. 3, 1929.

ORGAN Filed Dec. 31, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E.S.VOTEY ORGAN Filed Dec.31, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 3, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,121,144 PATENT OFFICE.

EDW'IN S. VO'IEY, OF SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIANCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

ORGAN.

Application filed December 31, 1925. Serial No. 78,588.

My present invention relates to means for selectively operating theswell shades belonging to different organ stops from one and the sameswell engine. By my invention, novel ,5 expression eliects areobtainable which cannot be obtained in a construction where the swellengine is connected non-selectively to the several sets of swell shades.

The annexed drawings show my invention by illustrating diagrammaticallyone particular embodiment thereof which I today preier in practice. Insaid drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram showing my present improvements incombination with the swell-engine, swellshades and pedals of an organ;Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the Valve-box 12of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sin 'lar View of valve-box 42 of said Fig. 1;Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the underside of the upper part of thepedal 6; Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view through said pedal 6 andcontact strip 35, the arm 31 and knob 33 being shown in elevation; andFig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view, partly in elevation, through saidpedal on the line 6-6 in Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Describing now my invention by way of said drawings but without limitingmyself to the details thereof except as required by the terms of theannexed claims, including the benefit of equiva1ents,1 showsdiagrammatically a box or chamber for containing the pipes of a givenstop or stops such as the vox humana. such chamber being provided withthe swell shades 2 of any usual or preferred. construction.

3 similarly shows another box or chamber which will ordinarily be largerthan 1 so as to contain the pipes of some or all of the remaining stopsof the organ, said chamber be ing provided with the swell shades 4.

5 indicates a swell engine of any usual or preferred construction foroperating said swell shades 2 and 4, namely, for tilting the shadesabout the individual axes thereof 2 and 4" respectively so as to openand close same more or less depending upon the degree of tilting.

6 is a swell shoe or pedal hinged at 6 to a part 7 of the organ consolefor operating the swell engine 5 to in turn operate the swell shades 2and 4.

The details of the swell engine form no part of my present inventionand, therefore, I do not show or describe same except to show that thebox 5 of said engine contains the usual accordion bellows 5 made up of aplurality of independently expandible and collapsible compartments. Theleft hand end only of said accordion bellows in Fig. 1 is attached tothe corresponding end of the box 5"; whereas the right hand end of saidbellows is attached to the rod 8 which is adapted to reciprocate freelylike a piston rod through a hole in the right hand end of the box 5. 5-5indicate in purely diagrammatical fashion the electro-pneumaticconnections for operating the swell engine from the swell shoe. Thedetails of the electrical and pneumatic parts and connections not beingshown because of the fact that they are old and well known in the art,it is sufficient to explain that as the pedal or shoe 6 is pushed into amore and more vertical position, the electrical contact strip 6 mountedon the underside of said shoe is brought into lateral wiping contactwith the row of fixed electrical contacts 6, one after another. Thesecontacts 6 are electro-pneumat-ically connected to the respectivecompartments of the accordion bellows 5. Normally, the said shoe 6occupies the position shown in Fig. 1 wherein its said contact strip 6is out of contact with the contacts 6 The electro-pneumatic connectionsare such that when the pedal 6 is in its aforesaid normal out-of-contactposition with the contacts 6 there will be wind under the same highpressure both on the inside and outside of all the compartments of theaccordion bellows 5", the result being that said accordion bellows isfully expanded and the shades 2 are -fully open due to the pull of theweight 9 attached to the cord 9 passing over the pull ey 9 into suitableattachment to the rod 8. (In this specification, high pressure air orwind means that it has a pressure materially greater than atmosphericpressure.) As soon, however, as the contact strip 6 makes electricalcontact with one or more of the contacts 6 the interior of theparticular compartment (or compartments) of the accordion bellowsbelonging or related to said active contacts, is connected with theatmosphere with the result that the high wind pressure normally in thebox 5 outside of said bellows immediately collapses the particularcompartment or compartments and correspondingly operates in closingdirection the swell shades 2 of the organ chamber 1. If the aforesaidcontact strip 6 contacts with all of the contacts 6 then it will beunderstood that each and all of the compartments of the accordionbellows will be collapsedand the swell shades 2 will be completelyclosed.

With the foregoing already known construction, I have combined thefollowing 10 is a bellows comprising the usual two boards 1O 10connected all around their edges by the usual flexible airtight material10, said bellows where its two boards are hinged together beingpivotally connected at 1O to a suitable support 11. 10 is a strap whichprevents the boards from being pulled apart beyond a degree'ofseparation corresponding to :1 full, or substantially full, pneumaticexpansion of said bellows. On the other hand, said strap does notprevent or limit the free collapse of said bellows with resultantbringing together of the boards 10 and 10 I v The rod 8 (alreadydescribed as operatively connecting the swell engine with the swellshades 2) is also directly connected with one board 10 of the bellows10. The other-board 10 of said bellows is connected by another rod 88with the swell shades 4 of the other box 3. I

VJhen high pressure wind is omitted into the aforesaid bellows 10, itforces apart the rods 8 and 88 to the extent permitted by the strap 10of said bellows; and this is the normal condition of said bellows. Fromthe earlier description it will be seen that the normal condition of theswell engine 5 is with its accordion bellows fully expanded as in Fig.1, due to the fact that there is the same high pressure wind on both theoutside and the inside of said bellows. Under the circumstances, theweight 9 keeps said accordion bellows normally fully expanded with therod 8 pulled to the right in Fig. 1 and with the swell shades 2 in theirwidest open position which accordingly is their normal condition. Thisalso adjusts the board 10 of the bellows 10 into the position shown inFig. 1 which is, therefore, its normal position relatively to itssupport 11. Because, as heretofore explained, the bellows 10 is normallyfully expanded due to its interior be ing normally connected with thehigh wind, it follows that the normal position for the board 10' of saidbellows is that shown in Fig. 1. This in turn results in'keeping the rod88 normally forced to the right as in Fig. 1 with the swell shades 4connected therewith in their normal position, namely, in their widestopen position as shown in said Furthermore, as long as the bellows 10 iskept expanded on high wind, the two rods 8 and 88 will move as one tooperate the tWo sets of swell shades simultaneously, whetherinclosingtheni due to the collapsing of the accordion bellows 5 in wholeor in part, or

reversfllyu if opening said swell shades due pedal 6 in the usualmanner, will produce similar simultaneous movements of both sets ofswell shades 2 and 4; and will, therefore, simultaneously produce loudand soft effects at will of all of the stops in the organ chambers 1 and2.

On the other hand, whenever the bellows 10 is taken off high wind andconnected with the atmosphere, it will no longer transmit the motion ofthe rod 8 to the rod 88 described before. ()n the contrary, the rod 8under these circumstances, when operated by the swell engine 5 and theweight 9, will now merely operate the one set of swell shades 2, butwill not operate at all the other set of swell shades d, because theboard 10 of the bellows 10 will now merely hinge idly about its hinge 10due to the fact that the interior of the bellows 10 is open to theatmosphere. This enables the organist now to operate only the swellshades 2 from the shoe 6, the other set of shades 4 being unaffected andindeed kept closed so that desirable expression effects are obtainablefrom the vox humana or other stops in the small organ chamber 1 whichcan be clearly heard over the subdued tones of any stops then beingplayed in the large organ chamber 3.

In short, when the bellows 10 is on high wind it is a device whichcouples the swell shades 2 to the swell shades 4 so that any operationof the former is transmitted to the latter. On the other hand, when thesame bellows 10 is connected with the atmosphere, it no longeroperatively couples the swell shades 2 and 4 and, therefore, they arenow operable independently of each other whereby the organist, forexample, can close the swell shades 4 and operate only the swell shades2 from the shoe 6 and thereby obtain desirable expression efiects.

I will now proceed to describe one preferred form of means, namely, thatillustrated in the drawings, for enabling the organist as aforesaid toconnect the bellows 10 at will either with the high pressure wind orwith the atmosphere for the purposes above set forth, and also to enablehim in connection with the foregoing to shut the swell shades 4.

Thus, 12 is a valve box whose interior is connected with the highpressure wind. 13 is a flexible tubular connection to connect theinterior of the bellows 10 with a duct let in the cover of the valvebox, said duct leading to the usual cylindrical recess 15 in said coverfor operatively containing the two inside valves 16 and 17 secured tothe valve stem 18 mounted on the usual pouch 19 extending over the pouchChamber 20. The aforesaid cylindrical recess 15 is bounded by an uppervalve seat 21 with a port 22 through it leading to the atmosphere pastthe apertured bridge 23 serving as a guide for the upper end of the saidvalve stem 18. Also, the aforesaid cylindrical recess 15 has a lowervalve seat 24 with a port 25 through it leading to the high wind in thebox 12. The aforesaid pouch chamber 20 connects by a duct with the usualrecess 26 provided in the bottom board of the valve box for operativelysupporting the usual armature 27 of the electromagnet 28. Normally thiselectromagent is de-energized and therefore normally its armature 28 isin its down position shown in Fig. 1 wherein it closes the atmosphereport 29 and leaves open the high pressure port 30. In other words,normally the pouch chamber 20 is on high wind communicated to it fromthe box 12 by way of the port 30. The aforesaid valves 16 and 17 arealso normally kept in their up position as in Fig. 1 due to the highwind under the valve 16 overcoming the atmospheric pressure on top ofsaid valve. The result of said Valves being normally up is (see Fig. 1)that the bellows 10 is normally on high wind (as earlier explained)because it is directly connected with the interior'of the valve box 12by way of the tube 13 and the high wind port 25.

The moment, however, that the organist energizes the electromagnet 28 bythe means next to be described, its armature 27 is raised, closing thehigh wind port 30 and opening the atmosphere port 29, whereby the highwind inthe pouch chamber 20 is vented to the atmosphere and the pouch 19and the valves 16 and 17 drop so that the bellows 10 is now out off fromthe high wind and instead is vented to the atmosphere for the purposeand with the results earlier explained in this specification.

Means is provided as an attachment to the swell shoe 6 for the organistto control the aforesaid energization and de-energization of theaforesaid electromagnet 28 and, therefore, to control the pneumaticcollapse and expansion of the bellows 10. This means comprises aflexible metal arm 31 pivotally attached by one end 32 to the swell shoe6 on the underface thereof. The free uppr end of said arm is providedwith a knob'33 which projects through a laterally extending slot 34 inthe shoe to the outer face thereof. An electrical contact strip 35 issecured by one end 36 to the underface of the shoe and extends laterallyacross same. The middle portion of said strip is arched away from theshoe as shown in Fig. 6. The electrical connections of the aforesaiddevice are as follows: 37 is a wire connecting the electromagnet 28 tothe contact strip 35; and 38 is a wire connecting the arm to one pole ofthe battery 39 and 40 is a wire connecting the other pole of the batterywith the electromagnet 28.

As long as the knob 33 and the arm 31 are in their central positionrelatively to the swell shoe, it makes no difference that the organistsfoot may be pressing on the pedal and the knob 33, and no electricalcircuit will be closed through the electromagnet 28 because the arm 31cannot touch the arched portion of the contact strip 35.

From the foregoing analysis it will be seen that if the organist wantsto operate both sets of swell shades 2 and 4 simultaneously, he willleave the knob 33 in its central position because by so doing he willnot ener gize the electromagnet 28. Therefore, the bellows 10 will be onhigh wind and consequently the two sets of swell shades will be coupledtogether for unitary action as heretofore explained.

On the other hand, if the organist wants to operate only the swellshades 2, he will kick the knob 33 over to one side and thereby causethe contact arm 31 to bear against the free end of the strip 35 whichwill close the electrical circuit through the electromagnet 28 which inaccordance with the foregoing analysis will result in connecting thebellows 10 with the atmosphere so that said bellows no longer couplesthe swell shades 2 and 4 and therefore the swell engine 5 will operateonly the one set of swell shades 2.

The means for insuring the closure of the swell shades 4 whenever thebellows 10 is connected with the atmosphere, consists of the following:41 is a bellows having a fixed or stationary board 41 and a movableboard 41 operatively connected to the rod 88 whereby the expansion ofthe said bellows by the admission to it of high wind will force said rod88 to the left in Fig. 1 and will thereby shut the swell shades 4. Onthe other hand, when said bellows 41 is connected with the atmos phereit has no operative effect on said swell shades and, therefore, will notinterfere with their operation from the swell engine through thecoupling bellows 10.

The valve box and electrical connections for operating and controllingthe said bellows 41 are as follows: 42 is a valve box containing highwind. The tube 43 connects the interior of the bellows 41 with a duct 44in the cover of said box, said duct leading to a cylindrical holethrough said cover to provide an atmosphere port 45 and a high wind port46 controlled by the outside valves 47 and 48 carried by the valve stem49. mounted on the pouch 50 and having its upper end guided by anapertured bridge 51 on the cover of said box. The aforesaid pouch issecured across the top of a recess 52 in the bottom board of the valvebox and is connected by a duct 53 with a recess 54 in said bottom board,which recess has a port 55 leading to the high wind in the valve box,and has another port 56 lead ing to the atmosphere. 57 is an electromagnet inside the valve box mounted on the bottom board with its polepieces adjacent said high wind port. 58 is the armature of this magnetwhich shuts one port or the other depending upon the energiz ation orde-energiza tion of the electromagnet. The electrical connections are asfollows: 59 is a wire connecting the electromagnet to the contact strip38 is a wire connecting the arm 31 to one pole of the battery 39, and 61is a wire connecting the other pole of the battery with theelectromagnet' In other words, the aforesaid details of the valve box 42including the electrical connections therefor are substantially the sameas those already described in connec tion with the valve box 12 foroperating the bellows 10, except that the valves in the former areoutside valves 47 and 48, whereas in the latter they are inside valves16 and 17 relatively to their ports. This difference combined with thefact that the said bellows 10 and 41 are both controlled as aforesaidfrom the same electrical contacts 31 and 35 on the swell shoe, bringsabout the following result, namely, that whenever the organist operatesthe said electrical contacts 31 and 35 to put the high wind on bellows10 to conple together all the swell shades for their joint operation,he, incidental thereto, will automatically connect the other bellows 41with the atmosphere. Vice versa, whenever he operates the said contactsto connectthe bellows 10 with the atmosphere to uncouple the shades 4from the shades 2, he, as an incident thereto, will automaticallyconnect the other bellows 41 with the high wind to insure the positiveshutting of the swell shades. 4 at this time, so as to subdue the tonesfrom the stops in the organ chamber 3 to the advantage of the expressioneffects obtainable by the operation of the shades 2 in connection withthe stops in organ chamber 1.

Obviously, in an organ playable automatically from a music-roll, theelectrical contacts 6 and 6 for controlling the swell engine will beoperated from music-roll perforations as they pass over the tracker bar;also that the electrical contacts for controlling the bellows 10 and 41can and will be similarly operated from perforations provided for thatpurpose in said music-roll.

What I claim is:

1. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, anoperative connection between said engine and said swell shadescomprising a pneumatically expansible and contractible member forming nopart of said swell engine and means for admitting air under pressure tosaid member to expand it, and vice versa, for admitting atmospherethereto to deflate it, whereby in the former case said expanded membertransmits the motion of the swell engine to the swell shades.

- 2. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, anoperative connection between said engine and said swell shadescomprising a pneumatically expansible and contractible member, means foradmitting air under pressure to said member to expand it, and viceversa, for admitting atmosphere thereto to deflate it, whereby in theformer case this expanded member transmits the motion of the swellengine to the swell shades, and another set'of swell shades directlyoperatively connected to said swell engine.

3. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, anoperative connection between said engine and said swell shadescomprising a pneumatically expansible and contractible member, and meansfor pivotally supporting said member.

4. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, anoperative connect-ion between said engine and said swell shadescomprising a pneumatically expansible and contractible member, anotherset of swell shades directly operatively connected to said swell engine,a pneumatic .operatively connected with the first named swell shades,and means for admitting air under pressure to said pneumatic to closesaid swell shades whenever the aforesaid pneumatically expansible andcontractible member is on atmosphere,and vice versa, for admittingatmosphere to said pneumatic whenever the aforesaid pneumaticallyexpansible and contractible member is on pressure.

5. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, aconnection between said engine and said swell shades, means for makingsaid connection either operative or inoperative to deliver the motion ofthe swell engine to said swell shades; and another set of swell shades,operatively connected to said swell engine.

6. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, anoperative connection between said engine and said swell shadescomprising a pneumatically expansible and contractible member, means foradmitting air under pressure to said member to expand it, and viceversa, for admitting atmosphere thereto to deflate it,whereby in theformer case said expanded member transmits the motion of the swellengine to the swell shades, a swell shoe operatively connected with saidswell engine, and control means carried by said shoe for initiating theaforesaid operation of the pneumatically expansible and contractiblemember.

7. In an organ the combination of a swell engine, swell shades, anoperative connection between said engine and; said swell shadescomprising, a pneumatically expansible and contractible member,means foradmitting air under pressure to said member to expand it, and viceversa, for admitting atmosphere thereto to deflate it, whereby in theformer case said expanded member transmits the mo tion of the swellengine to the swell shades, and control means for initiating theaforesaid operation of the pneumatically expansible and contractiblemember.

8. In an organ the combination of aswell engine, swell shades, anoperative connection between said engine and said swell shadescomprising a pneumatically expansible and contractible member, anotherset of swell shades directly operatively connected to said swell engine,a pneumatic operatively connected with the first named swell shades,means for admitting air under pressure to said pneumatic to close saidswell shades whenever the aforesaid pneumatically eX- pansible andcontractible member is on atmosphere, and vice versa, for admittingatmosphere to said pneumatic whenever the aforesaid pneumaticallyexpansible and contractible member is on pressure, and control means forinitiating the aforesaid operation of the pneumatically expansible andcontractible member and also of the aforesaid pneumatic.

9. In an organ the combination of an operatively supported pedal andelectrical contacts carried by said pedal comprising apivoted arm and anarched strip extending transversely across said arm, said arm beingpivoted to the underside of the pedal and being provided at its free endwith a knob located in a slot through the pedal, with the knob normallyprojecting above the upper face of said pedal the arched strip beingsecured at one end to the underside of the pedal, the relationshipbetween the parts being such that when said knob is pressed downwardlyby the foot on the pedal, said arm cannot touch the strip at its archedportion but can touch the free end of the strip after the knob has beenkicked laterally so as to swing the arm to said free end of the strip.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, this30th day of December, 1925.

EDWIN S. VOTEY.

